2022 Carolina Panthers 90's Schedule Release Campaign
Chanelle Smith-Walker was one of the three women (Angela Denogean and Megan Verceles Carr) that lead the charge in ideating, planning and executing the Carolina Panthers 2022 90s schedule release campaign. We hadn’t seen a team drop content throughout the entire week, and our goal was to have each piece lead up to the actual schedule release.
Smith-Walker worked along side Megan Verceles Carr to stylize the house in 90s theme. We also wrote the script for schedule release with Carson Smuckers from Upside Films. Smith-Walker located and negotiated the contract to rent the house for the video shoot as well as work with legal and Bill Voth to get the rights for the song “This is How We Do it” by Montell Jordan.
We worked with 8 of our players to schedule a photoshoot that was 90s inspired. Photos were shot and edited by Chanelle. We then used those photos to create 90s magazines that had specific branding to fit each player. Covers were designed by Chanelle. We dropped 1-2 of these magazines starting the Monday of schedule release and lead up to the hour the schedule would be dropped. With those photos, Chanelle created the Keep Pounding Tour. A fictional tour that would have each opponent and date. Smith-Walker worked with our marketing team to have t-shirts created for giveaways on social and community act. These shirts were also sold in our team store throughout the 2022 season.
Social graphic designed by Chanelle Smith-Walker that released on all Panthers social platforms.
Objective
Our objective was to create something nostalgic that would get our audience talking about their memories as a kid.
We wanted the conversation to go further than football, to help drive ticket sales and excitement and to push ourselves to create something around schedule release that no other team had done before. We wanted to drop content throughout the week while including several players.
Photographed and edited by Chanelle Smith-Walker
Strategy & Execution
Our first drop of the week was a 90s-themed magazine with DJ Moore on the cover with a title, description, and emojis that fit his brand. On IG we posted as a carousel to show more photos and on Twitter we created a thread. We tried to tie in music, fashion, and more. While using current players fans were close with, we added that 90s nostalgia to hint at the video theme.
The video itself had This How We Do It by Montell Jordan to grab the viewer's attention right away. We sent out a tweet 15 minutes before the video went out asking fans if they wanted us to leak it, so we DM'd fans super zoomed-in screenshots of minor details.
Modern-day sports fans always want info immediately! We then had fans meet Panthers legend Thomas Davis at a local park for ice cream and Keep Pounding Day t-shirts.
Album covers designed by Chanelle Smith-Walker that released on all Panthers social platforms.
Photos by Chanelle Smith-Walker